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Don was one of several people at the Rock Ethics Institute working in the area of ethics and climate change. This is one major focus of the instute's teaching, research, and outreach, and we have every intention of continuing the discussion on Climate Ethics.

In a lecture last week at Penn State, renowned sociobiologist E.O. Wilson used Paul Gauguin's "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?" (above) to introduce his ideas on eusociality. According to Wilson, Gauguin's three questions are the central questions of religion and philosophy. However neither is equipped to answer them.

Wilson asserts that religions do not have the necessary scientific understanding of the universe and offer competing accounts. And since the decline of logical positivism, philosophy has "scattered in a kind of intellectual diaspora and into those areas not yet colonized by science". In a leap of logic, Wilson concludes, "by default therefore, the solution to the great riddle, if it has an answer, has been left to science".

Wilson claims that eusociality and evolutionary biology provide the best answer to Gauguin's questions. Rather than address the veracity and usefulness of Wilson's eusociality (something that extends beyond my discipline), I want to pause and focus on the type of answer that Wilson's eusociality is and whether it address Gauguin's questions.

Gauguin's "Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?" is considered to be his most significant work. It is also reported that he intended to commit suicide after its completion, a fact relayed by Wilson. Gauguin was approximately fifty at the time of completing the work, however its title and origins go back to his childhood when he was a student under the Bishop of Orléans, Félix-Antoine-Philibert Dupanloup.

Dupanloup developed a catechism for his young students to encourage them to reflect on the nature of life. The catechism revolved around three questions: where does humanity come from, where is it going to, how does humanity proceed? While Gauguin disliked his school years and later clashed with the Catholic Church, these three questions clearly held a lasting significance for him, inspiring one of his greatest works.

In painting a scene of life moving from birth to death, the viewer is left questioning with Gauguin: Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? Clearly many answers are possible, including Wilson's eusociality, however different disciplines will hold different answers of different significance. In response to the question, 'what are we?', a biologist could start explaining the anatomical structure of a human, but this does not address the existential character of the question.

In asking 'what are we?' or 'who am I?' the question directs our inquiry beyond descriptive facts of biology or anatomy to philosophical and ethical notions of identity and self-understanding. These answers certainly include the biological, identity and self-understanding are to abstracted from the body, but nor are they reduced to it.

In his lecture Wilson describes the task of science as discovering "the knowledge of the real world [that] can be tested and shared with every person". This is a fine description if by "real world" Wilson means the physical or sensible world. But if "real world" means the world of human interaction and concepts, such as freedom, morality, and meaning, then Wilson either misunderstands science or misunderstands the way non-physical ideas operate in the world.

In discussing Immanuel Kant's moral philosophy, Michael Sandel addresses the role of science. "Science can investigate nature and inquire into the empirical world, but it cannot answer moral questions or disprove free will. That is because morality and freedom are not empirical concepts. We can't prove that they exist, but neither can we make sense of our moral lives without presupposing them." (Justice, 2009: 129) It is important to be aware of the boundaries separating disciplines and the different questions they seek to answer.

In recent years, some populist scientists have "colonized" questions that go beyond the empirical and physical. In using the methods of natural science, questions of morality and meaning have been flattened and reduced to biophysical explanations (for an example of where these issues are currently unfolding see neuroethics). In so doing, the scope of possible answers are reduced to the empirical, or alternatively questions that extend beyond the empirical are discounted as "silly". 

Importantly, scientists have answered many questions, helping us to better understand the physical world and our place in it. But while natural science is a powerful tool, it is not the only tool we have and it is not always the most appropriate. Questions such as 'why are we here?', 'where are we going?', or 'what is the purpose of existence?' are significant questions that have occupied humanity for millennia. Importantly, these questions remain unanswered, not because there are no answers, or philosophers have used the wrong method, or that we have not applied ourselves with the necessary vigor, but because of the nature of the question does not allow for stable or final answers.

Some questions are for answering, and some are for wrestling. Gauguin wrestled with these questions, not in anticipation of an answer. I will not speculate on the kind of answer that would have satisfied Gauguin, but I will venture to suggest that Wilson's eusociality would not have sufficed. This is not because eusociality is necessarily wrong, but that it is an answer to a different question. Eusociality tries to describe how social interaction evolved. For Wilson, the 'why' of human social organization is that it is adaptively advantageous. This may be correct but it does not and cannot address questions about why this is so, who we are and what should we do. Gauguin's questions are about existence, meaning and purpose, not description, process or mechanism. As evidenced by Gauguin's own approach, they are to be wrestled with over a lifetime. 

The following entry by guest blogger, Dr. Kenneth Shockley, Associate Professor, University of Buffalo, makes a strong case that the nature of the harm caused by the disinformation campaign calls for collective moral outrage.

Those who deny the reality, importance, or magnitude of climate change warrant our collective outrage. Whether by action or inaction, their denial blinds us to the risks, vulnerabilities, and threats to our well-being posed by climate change. Insofar as claims of ignorance are becoming increasingly implausible, those who support or propagate the disinformation campaign about climate change are guilty of more than deception. They are guilty of exacerbating risks to our collective well-being and of undermining society.

Readers of this blog will be familiar with the current misinformation campaign waged against climate science. I will, therefore, take it on assumption for our purposes here that both (1) there is overwhelming evidence that climate change is taking place and (2) there is a concerted effort, through activity or negligence, to convince the public that there is no need for action. I take (2) to constitute the essence of what I will call the disinformation campaign about climate change. I take (1) to provide the focus of such a campaign, a campaign focused on convincing any and all that the science of climate change is not worth taking seriously or that the consequences of climate change are too uncertain to justify action.

What I am interested in is the nature of the harm associated with the disinformation campaign. The disinformation campaign is more than a coordinated effort at misrepresenting the science, it is a violation of body politic. Our collective well-being is being undermined, and this should provoke moral outrage, both domestically in the US and UK where it seems to have its home, and internationally where some of its more egregious and immediate consequences are felt. Just as the sense of moral outrage is the proper result to violations of one's individual person, we owe collective moral outrage to violations of our collective body politic. The harm associated with the disinformation campaign goes beyond a simple matter of dishonesty (which it is). Insofar as the disinformation campaign blocks efforts to address climate change that campaign is complicit in increasing the risk of being subject to the more calamitous consequences of a changing climate.

The recent IPCC SREX report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters To Advance Climate Adaptation, (IPCC, 2012), paints a vivid picture of the risks and vulnerabilities presented by climate change, both now, and in the future. Similar warnings have been expressed in the United States National Academy of Science's recent report America's Climate Choices (US Academy, 2011) and in a wide range of other sources. What should we say about those who in the face of overwhelming evidence that we are at risk of significant harms encourage us not to act in the face of those risks? What would we say of those who convince us that an impending flood is not real, and hamper our efforts to prepare for, or minimize the effects of that flood?

This question should frame the way we think about the current effort to deny the clear and overwhelming scientific consensus that we are facing a changing climate, with the risks and concerns noted by those best able to assess them. After all, these vulnerabilities pose a risk to our well-being; they have great moral significance.
In blocking efforts to address, respond to or adapt to climate change, the disinformation campaign exacerbates our vulnerabilities to a changing climate; given the scale and magnitude of the problems we face, exacerbating vulnerabilities to climate change puts social stability at risk. This risk constitutes a threat to our well-being, and the well-being of our children; to increase this risk is to incur blame.

As the actions of the disinformation campaign put society at risk, those in support of this campaign, knowingly or out of culpable ignorance, similarly deserve our ire. Efforts to ignore this risk should provoke our individual and collective moral outrage. Political officials who endorse, accept, or adopt this campaign and its goals are in violation of the public trust; such officials are acting contrary to the public good with which they are entrusted. Those who illicitly attempt to influence the political process by means of this campaign of misrepresentation are complicit in this violation.

By misrepresenting the science of climate change, the disinformation campaign is complicit in putting social stability at risk, with the attendant moral consequences; they are complicit in increasing the probability and extent of widespread human misery. Those who are engaged in this campaign are guilty of violating the sacred trust of their office, guilty of culpable ignorance (for surely we trust those who make political decisions to use the resources of their office to find the best available data for that decision; simply failing to recognize the nature of the science is culpable when the well-being of the society they represent is at stake), or corruption (for passing off as public reason, reasons based self-serving motivations that run contrary to the long term well-being of our society is surely an inappropriate influence on the body politic, a corrupting influence of the most vile sort). Violation of public trust, culpable ignorance, or simple corruption. I see no other options. The point now is to move forward.

We must bring to light the corrupting influences. We must compel the media to make clear that there is only as much debate about the science behind climate change as there is debate about the science behind the existence of the dinosaurs (for while in both cases we may doubt the details, there is little doubt about the overall picture). We must compel our political agents to make clear, in the starkest moral terms, why they are making, or failing to make, the decisions they make. This should motivate a movement at least as ferocious as the Occupy Wallstreet movement. The Occupy Wallstreet movement was focused on the very real and morally potent concern that our economy is shifting us toward a society not in line with the basic moral principles on which our nation was founded and on which our hopes and expectations are based. To some extent that economy is reversible. The concern that motivates moral outrage at inaction and obstruction regarding climate change should be focused on the very conditions that make possible a stable society for us, and for our children. Our influence on these background conditions is not so reversible, at least on time scales that matter to our children. For the sake of our children, and for the sake of our own moral decency, this disinformation campaign should inspire moral outrage.

References:

IPCC, 2012, Special Report on managing Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Mitigation, available at ; http://ipcc-wg2.gov/SREX/images/uploads/SREX-SPM_FINAL.pdf/

US Academy of Science, 2011, America's Climate Choices, National Academies Press, http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12781.

By:
Kenneth Shockley, Ph.D.
Associate Professor,
111 Park Hall
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260

This conference was particularly notable because both Chinese and non-Chinese participants appeared to agree that climate change must be understood to be essentially an ethical matter that can only be solved through reliance on some common global values. To this writer's knowledge, this was the first conference in China that expressly explored the ethical views of Chinese and Western ethicists about climate change.

The papers presented at the conference included the following:

A. Climate Change Ethics And Philosophy

1. The Practical Significance of Understanding Climate Change As An Ethical Problem (Donald A. Brown, Penn State University)
2. The Border Between Climate Change And Libertarianism (Jun Chen, Hubei University)
3. Thoughts On Climate Change And The Conflict Of National Interest (Gang Guo, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
4. Review On The Climate Change Ethics (Jun Shi, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
5. Philosophical Review On Climate Change (Fan Chen & Guozhang Liu, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
6. Analysis On The Root Of Climate Crisis Through Biological Marxism (Feng Xu, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
7. Possibilities Of Global Cooperation On Climate-the Dilemma Of Nation-State Theory And World Theory (Fangxing Ye, Hehai University)
8. Climate Justice And Climate Ethics (Rongnan Zhang, Department of Philosophy-East China Normal University)
9. Climate Change: Ethical Dimension On Sustainable Development (Siwei Dai, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)

B. Section Two: Climate Change Policy And Law

1. Discussion, Debate, And Democratic Negotiation: The Choice Of Tools In Global Climate Change Policy Making (Xiangrong Su, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
2. Adaptation To Climate Change Impacts: Challenges To China's Environmental Law And Changing Directions (Xiangbai He, Law School-Western Sydney University)
3. Response And Choice To The Climate Legislation And Regulation Under Multiple Pursuits Of Benefits (Xiaodan Song & Zhangjun Pang, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
4. Research On Regulation Of Atmospheric Property Under Climate Change (Shibin Wu, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
5. Study On The Legislation Of Human-impact Climate Change (Zhi Qiao, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
6. The Inspiration of "Others Theory" Of Ethics On Contemporary Public Policy (Xi Wang, China mMeteorology Bureau)
7. A Brief Analysis On The Cooperation On Climate Study Across Taiwan Straits In The Last 60 Years (Suhua Yong & Xiangping Liu, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
8. Research On The NGOs' Influence In Coping With Climate Change (Meili Tang, Huijuan Shi, & Fengjiang Cheng, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)

Section Three: Economic And Social Management In Climate Change

1. Climate Change And Ecocities In China: Challenges And Opportunities To Building A Sustainable And Equitable Society (Erich W.Schienke)
2. Efficiency And Reduction In China: Carbon Tax Or Sectoral Cap And Trade? (Rongxiang Cao, Central Bureau of Translation)
3. Energy Saving In China: Tax, Control On Total Amount In Each Department, Or Trade? (Rongxiang Cao, Central Bureau of Translation)
4. Democratic Governance: Probe On The Democratic Mode In Coping With Climate Change (Zhijiang Li, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
5. Change Of The "Leadership" Of Global Environmental Control: Case Study In Canada (Laihui Xie, Central Bureau of Translation)
6. Path Selection Of China's Ecological Regulation Construction Through Ecological Civilization (Fen Sun & Jie Cao, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
7. Climate Change, Eco-system, And A Sustainable Developing Society (Zhangguo Liu, Institute of Climate Change and Public Policy-Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
8. Research On The Factors That Drive Low Carbonization On China's Traditional Manufacturing (Decai Tang & Changshun Li, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
9. Discussion On The Practical necessity And Basic Ideas On China's Ecological Regulation (Fen Sun & Jie Cao, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)
10. Analysis Of The Influence Of REDD On Slowing Down China's Climate Change Process (Jichuan Sheng, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology)

For further information about this conference, contact Donald A Brown, Penn State University, dab57@psu.edu

By

Donald A. Brown,
Associate Professor, Environmental Ethics, Science, and Law
Penn State University
dab57@psu.edu

In an interview with The Atlantic, investigative journalist Jason Berry discusses the parallels and differences in the way the Catholic Church and Penn State responded to allegations of sexual abuse. See the interview here - What the Catholic Church Can Teach Us About the Penn State Scandal

In this interview Jason Berry raises a number of key themes for ethical deliberation in an institutional context:

1)  1. The relationship between knowledge of ethics and ethical practice.

a.     How can highly educated people who have received training or instruction in ethical thinking fail to act in accordance with this knowledge?

b.     What factors can wedge between knowledge and practice to create a situation where knowing the right thing doesn't lead to doing the right thing?

c.      Is there something intrinsic to institutions such as a Church, University or Company, that create the conditions in which ethical practice is determined by the institution rather than what is considered right beyond the institutional boundaries?

2)   2. The value of leadership

a.     Leadership is valued in the sporting arena, boardroom and ER. In these situations the leader leads towards victory, profit and success. These are valuable goals in society, but what of ethical leadership?

b.     Does ethical leadership lead toward a goal? If so what is it?

c.      If the goals of doing the right thing conflict with the goals of success or profit how are these reconciled - which yields?

3) 3.  The role of cultural sensibilities

a.     How do cultural sensibilities, as sources of identity and meaning, shape ethics?

b.     If these cultural sensibilities are criticized or dislodged what impact can this have on ethical deliberation?

c.      What is place of the individual within the culture? Is it possible to stand up for what is right and remain loyal to that culture?

Jason Berry addresses a range of ethical issues for the individual and institution. What aspect of Berry's perspective did you find helpful in thinking through the ethics of what occurred at Penn State? Where there parts that you thought were unhelpful or misguided? - we would like to discuss your thoughts and ideas.

To view the lecture online, visit mediasite.

During this time of unprecedented crisis within the Penn State community, the Rock Ethics Institute remains committed to fostering careful reflection and dialogue concerning the many ethical challenges facing our community.  We acknowledge our responsibility to participate in addressing the particularly difficult challenges that recent revelations have raised by initiating and lending our support to programs that aim both to increase awareness of and to foster careful reflection concerning issues such as:

• ethically appropriate responses to the spectrum of harms done to children who have been sexually assaulted 
  
• the interrelations between individual and institutional ethical responsibility, and   
• the requirements for a diverse and multi-faceted organization like Penn State both to advocate for and to exemplify integrity in all aspects of its mission.

The Penn State Rock Ethics Institute will draw on the expertise of members of the community, on the Institute's existing resources in the areas of ethical leadership and moral literacy, as well as on the resources that are emerging from our current examination of institutional corruption in support of this reflection and dialogue. We appreciate input from anyone in the community concerning how we might best facilitate this challenging process. Please leave your comments below.